Meanings
plural pepper pots · alternative pepperpot · alternative pepper-pot
- A small container with a perforated top used for sprinkling ground pepper.
Synonyms: pepper shaker, peppershaker, pepperette
- A mushroom, Myriostoma coliforme.
- A soup made of tripe, vegetables and dumplings, seasoned with pepper.
Synonyms: Philadelphia pepper pot
- figurativelyA person who is hot tempered; a feisty or argumentative person.
An unfortunate quarrel between our pepperpots marked the outset of our new stage.
1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small container with a perforated top used for sprinkling ground pepper.
nounA soup made of tripe, vegetables and dumplings, seasoned with pepper.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna soup made with vegetables and tripe and seasoned with peppercorns; often contains dumplings
nouna shaker with a perforated top for sprinkling ground pepper
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
The mushroom sense (sense 2) arose because the mature fruiting body of the mushroom resembles a literal pepper pot (sense 1) and the spores that fly out of it resemble the granules of pepper being dispensed. The feisty-person sense (sense 4) arose because such a person figuratively adds spice to life, like a literal pepper pot (sense 1) does.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian пиперник
- пиперник (pipernik)container
Catalan pebrera
- pebreracontainer
Dutch pepervaatje, peperbus
- pepervaatjecontainer
- peperbuscontainer
French poivrière
- poivrièrecontainer
Italian pepiera, pepaiola
- pepieracontainer
- pepaiolacontainer
Polish pieprzniczka
- pieprzniczkacontainer
Romanian piperniță
- pipernițăcontainer
Russian пе́речница
- пе́речница (pérečnica)container
Welsh bocs pupur
- bocs pupurcontainer
Cite this entry
pepper pot. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pepper%20pot
“pepper pot.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pepper%20pot. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pepper pot,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pepper%20pot.
Source: pepper pot on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.